64 THE APPLE. 



the branches. If they are allowed by the careless cultivator to 

 go on and multiply, as they soon do, incredibly fast, they will 

 in a few seasons, sometimes in a single year, increase to 

 such an extent as almost to cover the branches. In this cater- 

 pillar state they live six or seven weeks, feeding most vora- 

 ciously upon the leaves, and often stripping whole trees of their 

 foliage. Their effect upon the tree at this period of the season, 

 when the leaves are most important to the health of the tree and 

 the growth of the fruit, is most deplorable. The crop is stunted, 

 the health of the tree enfeebled, and, if they are allowed to re- 

 main unmolested for several seasons, they will often destroy its 

 life or render it exceedingly decrepid and feeble. 



To destroy the caterpillar various modes are adopted. One of 

 the most effectual is that practised by Mr. Pell in his orchards, 

 which is to touch the nest with a sponge, attached to the end 

 of a pole, and dipped in strong spirits of ammonia ; the sponge 

 should be turned slowly round in the nests, and every insect 

 coming in contact will be instantly killed. This should be done 

 early in the season. Or, they may be brought down and de- 

 stroyed with a round brush fixed to the end of a pole, and work- 

 ed about in the nests. On small trees they may be stripped off 

 with the hand, and crushed under the foot; and by this plain 

 and simple mode, begun in time, with the aid of a ladder, they 

 may in a large orchard be most effectually kept under by a few 

 moments' daily labour of a single man. As they do not leave 

 their nests until nine in the morning, the extirpator of caterpil- 

 lars should always be abroad and busy before that time, and 

 while they are all lying quietly in the nests. And let him never 

 forget that he may do more in an hour when he commences 

 early in the season, than he will in a whole day at a later pe- 

 riod, when they are thoroughly scattered among the trees. If 

 they are allowed to remain unmolested, they spin their cocoons 

 about the middle of June, and in a fortnight's time comes forth 

 from them a fresh brood of moths which, if they are not put an 

 end to by bonfires, will again lay the eggs of an infinite number 

 of caterpillars for the next spring. 



The Canker worm, (Anisopteryx pometaria, of Harris,) is in 

 some parts of the country, one of the worst enemies of the apple, 

 destroying also its foliage with great rapidity. It is not yet com- 

 mon here, but in some parts of New-England it has become a 

 serious enemy. The male is a moth with pale, ash-coloured 

 wings with a black dot, a little more than an inch across. The 

 female is wingless, oval, dark ash-colored above, and gray beneath. 



The canker worm usually rises out of the ground very early 

 in the spring, chiefly in March, as soon as the ground is free 

 from frost ; though a few also find their way up in the autumn. 

 The females having no wings, climb slowly up the trunks of 

 the trees, while the winged males hover about to pair with them, 



